Teano, Jeramie M.

2008-15669 Sexuality in Southeast Asia

SEA 30 WFW2 Prof. Del Rosario

Southeast Asia has been referred by scholars as a culture area or in simple terms, an overlapping culture area because of the several similaritiesin linguistic structures, dietary habits, religious beliefs and practices, and patterns of kinship/gender, sexuality and socio-political organization. Gender and sexuality are among of the most interesting features of Southeast Asia in cultural terms which are closely related to the broadly institutionalized traditions of pluralism. Pluralism in gendered fields or simply gender pluralism, includes pluralistic sensibilities and dispositions regarding bodily practices (adornment, attire, mannerisms) and embodied desires, as well as social roles, sexual relationships, and ways of being that bear on or are otherwise linked with local conceptions of femininity, masculinity, androgyny, and etc. which are considered legitimate. Under this is the concept of transgenders. Transgenders refer to those that go beyond the distinct separation of men and women as individuals by changing their nature, physically and emotionally. According to Peletz, in his composition entitled, Transgenderism and Gender Pluralism in Southeast Asia since Early Modern Times, the roots of this trangenderism idea were evident during the 15th and 16th centuries, specifically on religious traditions. Religious customs during these periods were highly dualistic. Relatively egalitarian relations between males and females, good deal of female autonomy and social control as well as considerable fluidity and permeability in gender roles, were seen during those times. Many communities of Southeast Asians gave enormous prestige to male-bodied individuals who dressed in female attire while performing certain rituals associated with royal regalia, births, weddings, and key phases of agricultural cycles. These individuals were highly respected in the society. However, the second half of the early modern period, roughly the 17th and 18th centuries, witnessed dramatic changes which caused alterations and reproduction of transgender practices and roles. These changes led to the rise of male-oriented, legalistic, and hierarchical world religions such as Sunni Islam, Theravada Buddhism, Neo-Confucianism, and Iberian-style Catholicism. These eventually constricted the ritualistic practice of transgender and women, which were experienced during the Spanish colonization in the Philippines (Spaniards always linked the female shaman with Satanism). Continued in the present times, all those non-heteronormative genders and sexualities became decidedly un-Asian which were once considered as Asian, in spite of the abundant historical and ethnographic evidence indicating that transgendered practices and identities. It is clearly seen that transgenderism have been delegitimized due to changes brought by pre-colonial, colonial, and postcolonial state policies as well as economic, political and religious developments.